Female Founder Stories: Elise Polezel, Founder of LivBlends (YC S14)

LivBlends delivers healthy freshly-blended smoothies directly to customers in the Bay Area and makes a “Keurig machine for smoothies”.

Q: Tell us about your experience at Y Combinator.
It’s like having a final exam every day. Pit in the stomach. No sleep. No distractions. Looking back, it’s amazing how much we were able to accomplish in just 12 weeks. So many breakthroughs in growth and product development.

The weekly dinners and frequent office hours with YC partners were critical to our success. We really lived by the YC mantras: “Write code and talk to customers,” and “Make something users love.” It was a ton of fun.

Q: What is the atmosphere like at YC during those 3 months with Demo Day approaching?
I was euphoric and terrified all the time. I still am– but it was great to have 70+ companies and 150+ friends to share that feeling.